黎族打柴舞是黎族人的舞步。它發源於現為海南省三亞市的古崖洲，黎族人的聚居地。在喪事時，黎族人不會立即把死者下葬，他們會把死者的靈柩停放在室內數星期或一個月。為了趕走野獸、保護屍首、壓驚及祭祀祖先，黎族人創作了一系列的傳統舞蹈，成為後來的打柴舞。每天晚上，村民們會在死者家中上演打柴舞。

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打柴舞儀式會特定使用從山上斬下的木材，因此得名「打柴舞」(意指 「斬柴木」)。把一些木材以橫向平行的方式排列後，再把粗幹打直平行排列。村民們會握着枝幹的兩端並控制它們的行動，並透過枝幹敲撃打出舞步節奏。打柴舞總共有九個主要舞步，最有名的包括青蛙步、狗追鹿步、猴子步及烏鴉步。有些舞步是取材自黎族祖先的日常生活。透過舞步，人們希望青蛙、鹿、猴子等生物陪伴並帶逝者到另一個世界去。不過，以往女性不能參與共舞。

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當舞者身手敏捷地在移動枝幹之間躍動，他們亦要小心留意柴枝，避免頭部及足部受傷。打柴舞亦於2006年被列入第一批國家級非物質文化遺產。

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The Firewood Gathering Dance (打柴舞) of the Li nationality of originates from ancient Yazhou (古崖洲), now known as Sanya city (三亞市) at Hainan. The body of the deceased is kept in a coffin for several weeks or even a month long before it is buried, during which time a ritual dance is performed by the villagers in order to chase away beasts to protect the body, as well as to suppress fear and pay respects to the ancestors. 

 

The dance uses bamboo poles chopped from the trees above the hills, thus the name DaChai (打柴) (meaning “chopping timber”) in Chinese. The bamboo poles are lined in a row parallel to each other, resting on a perpendicular pole on each end. Villagers will hold the end of the sticks and control the movement of them, creating the rhythm as the sticks clack with the other sticks. Accompanying the rhythm, the dancers are to hop and jump between the poles, timing their steps to step in a gap before it is closed by the moving sticks. There are in total main 9 dance routines for the dance, including the iconic frog step (青蛙步), dog chasing deer (狗追鹿步), monkey (猴子步) and crow routines (烏鴉步). Some of these steps were inspired by the lifestyle of the ancestors in the Li population. Through these dance routines, the dancers also hope that the kind creatures like frogs, monkeys and deer will accompany the deceased one’s spirit and bring them to the other world.

 

Women were forbidden to join in the dance in the past, but now they participate just as much as the men. As the dancers move around the spaces created by the moving sticks swiftly, they have to be careful of the sticks in order to prevent injuries for their head and legs.